A poet who loved Jammu

Squadron Leader Anil Sehgal
Jammu Jottings
After our marriage at Jammu, in 1984, Seema and I moved to Bagdogra, where I was posted at the Air Force Station. This place falls in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, and the nearest station of All India Radio ( A I R) is located at Siliguri.
Seema was an ‘A’ graded singer of the AIR and the Doordarshan those days. Today, she holds the Top graded position. And there is nothing higher than this.
All India Radio, Siliguri invited her for a recording in their studios. When we reached the radio station, the Station Director introduced us to his senior officers. And, see, who we met there !
We were introduced to Shri Hans Raj Abrol, the adminstrative officer of A I R Siliguri who we both knew as renowned Urdu poet ‘Arsh’ Sehbai from Jammu !
To Seema, Arsh saheb was an uncle, a colleague of her father, Sahitya Akademi Award winner renowned Dogri poet Yash Sharma. Both the poets worked in the erstwhile Radio Kashmir Jammu ( R K J ).
Both the colleagues, Arsh and Yash, were good friends too. Both were counted among the best poets in their respective languages.
We found Arsh sahib rather sad and disenchanted even in the proximity of enchanting places like Darjeeling ( 60 kilometres), Gangtok ( 110 Kms ) and Kalimpong ( 65 Kms) ! He missed his Jammu dearly !
Arsh Sehbai loved Jammu as much as he loved Urdu, poetry and the aesthetics of life. Living in Siliguri, or, for that matter, anywhere in the world, except Jammu, was like an exile to him.
He expressed his anguish thus :
Dast-e-ghurbat mein jo aayee hai kabhi yaad-e-vatan /
Phoot ke roye Hain hum paon ke chhalon ki tarah //
( I bitterly cry like the boils of the soles /
As memories of homeland knock at my doors, living in foreign lands // )
I knew Arsh saheb from my student days in Jammu. He was working as an accounts officer with R K J . I was perhaps the most prolific broadcaster among the young students, and was often invited to the radio station where, among other stalwarts of literature and broadcasting, I used to interact with Arsh sahib as well.
Arsh Sehbai was already a poet of renown and he was very fond of me because of my multifarious activities in art and literature. Moreover, like him, I was a lover of Urdu language and could recall some of the best poems of the language extempore. These common interests brought us closer.
He was one of the tallest Urdu poets of his time in Jammu and Kashmir, honoured three times with the awards from the State government. Besides, he was the best recognised face from Jammu & Kashmir in mushairas all across the country.
He belonged to the Daag Dehalvi school of Urdu poetry and was a disciple of Pandit Labhu Ram Josh Malsiyani, though for a short time.
Although his poetry contains modern expressions, he claimed he was not a modernist or “jadeed” poet. To my mind, Arsh was an effective blend of classicism and modernism in Urdu poetry.
Like the famous poet and film lyricist, Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Arsh Sehbai is also famously known for his blunt speech and temperament. He loved calling a spade by its name.
Arsh has a large number of disciples. His most famous disciple was Pandit Vidya Ratan Aasi, a Dogra from Jammu who lived a miserable life, but gave out some of the most enchanting poems written in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent times.
There is a well known instance when his best known disciple ‘Aasi’ sought counsel of his ustad Arsh on a ghazal he had written. It is said that Arsh approved the ghazal after deleting just one couplet, which, as the time proved subsequently, was the most powerful couplet of that ghazal !
For records’ sake, this deleted couplet is the magnum opus and perhaps the most quoted couplets of Pandit Vidya Ratan Aasi ! Thus goes the couplet that has given recognition to poet ‘Aasi’:
Ghalat sub daleelein, ghalat sub hawaale /
Andhere, andhere, ujaale ujaale //
(All reasoning and references mean nothing
Darkness remains dark, brightness remains bright !)
Prof Zaman Aazurda who claims he is responsible for inclusion of poems by poets like Arsh Sehbai , Rasa Javidani and Aabid Munawari in the Urdu textbooks of Jammu and Kashmir, thus recalls an incident :
“I was working for the Doordarshan at Delhi. I wanted Arsh Sehbai for an episode of a series I was producing.
” I called up Arsh saheb to come to Delhi for the shooting. He said he was not keeping good health and it would be difficult for him to travel alone.
” Arsh needed someone to escort him during the journey from Jammu. It was tricky. I was authorised to give him single air passage, but not an escort for the train journey.
” I thought of inviting poet Sehrai also for the programme, clearly stating that he was invited so that he could bring along Arsh with him !
” Thanks to the brilliance of Arsh Sehbai, this programme became very popular and was repeated several times ! Arsh is certainly highly respected and accepted by a large chunk of Urdu lovers across the country.”
He also recounts an incident where an IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre was invited to preside over a mushaira because of his official position.
” I was pained to see how this officer shamelessly accepted the undeserved honour in the presence of a senior and acclaimed poet like Arsh Sehbai. Though visibly offended, Arsh attended the mushaira till it’s end.
Arsh Sehbai is a master when it comes to romanticism. He blends beauty, love, longing, and mysticism like an expert chemist :
Kaun Sa Wo Zakhm-e-Dil Tha Jo Tar-o-Taaza Na Tha ?
Zindagi Mein Itne Gam The Jinka Andaaza Na Tha,
Arsh Unki Jheel Si Aankhon Ka Usmein Kya Kasoor,
Doobane Walon Ko Hi Gehrayi Ka Andaaza Na Tha.
Which wound of the heart was not fresh and moist ?
There was no estimate of the sorrows the life had
Arsh, why blame her pond like eyes !
Those who drowned in them had no idea of their depth !
He was a simple soul with strong sense of ethics and high moral values. Without assurance of a new job, he resigned his position at the Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu just because they were carrying out experiments on live animals.
Arsh Sehbai embraced modernism or ” jadeediyat” whilst keeping his feet firm on the soil of traditional literary values of classicism. His expressions are subtle and understated :
Waqt ki yeh sitam zareefi hai /
Varna insaan bura nahin hota //
It is just an irony ( mischievousness ) of time
Otherwise, no human is bad !
Born Hans Raj Abrol, in a village of Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, on 3rd December 1930, Arsh was perhaps the tallest Urdu poet Jammu and Kashmir has produced.
Anjuman Farogh-e- Urdu, Jammu & Kashmir held a memorial mehfil to remember this eminent Dogra poet on his second death anniversary, at K L Sehgal hall of the Writers’ Club where his friends and admirers paid rich tributes to significant contributions of Arsh Sehbai making Urdu poetry rich and endearing.
It will only be fitting to mention this oft quoted couplet of Arsh Sehbai in conclusion :
Dil to kya cheez hai, hum rooh mein utre hote/
Tumne chaha hi nahin chaahne walon ki tarah//
( Why talk of heart alone ?
I could have immersed into your soul ! /
Somehow, you failed to love me the way lovers do ! //
Except for the few hardcore lovers of Urdu poetry of substance, not many Jammuites may be aware of the eminence of Arsh Sehbai in the world of Urdu poetry or the significance of the 18 books he has published in his life span of 90 years. But, as they say, ‘better late than never’ !

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